The Águilas del América flew back home early, and the landing was anything but peaceful. After losing 5-4 in a penalty shootout to the Rayados de Monterrey in the semifinals of the 2026 Leagues Cup, América coach Guillermo Almada stirred up controversy at a press conference and assigned blame, pointing directly to the referees and VAR as the main villains of the night.
For Almada, the defeat wasn’t due to a lack of accuracy from the penalty spot, but rather to alleged bias. The Uruguayan coach went after the VAR referee, whose last name is Miranda, claiming he had already been warned: “We had already been told about Miranda’s track record with VAR… he has a history of really hurting the club, and today it was very evident.”
The Azulcrema coach’s anger centered on two specific plays: a penalty in their favor that, according to him, was completely overlooked, and another against them that he described as a complete fabrication in which his defense was the real victim. True to his fiery style, Almada didn’t hold back on his choice of words when describing the use of the technology. “With a tool like VAR that’s so obvious, it’s not a mistake—it’s an absolute disaster—and the VAR decision ended up being decisive in the match,” he declared, demanding in the process that the league use Mexican referees, whom he considers far better prepared for these situations.
The Response from Cerro de la Silla
But while excuses rained down from América’s bench, the Monterrey side was brimming with sarcasm. Matías Almeyda, Rayados’ coach, didn’t buy into his colleague’s conspiracy theory, but he did leave him a “little reminder” to cap off the night.
With great composure, “El Pelado” dismissed the alleged bias and even pointed out that the referee was stricter with the Monterrey team than with the Águilas themselves: “In this game, I don’t know if he made a mistake; I think he called the plays correctly. He called two throw-ins against us for seconds… he didn’t count the seconds for them—I don’t know—but I respect that.”
At the end of the day, the complaints stay in the press room, and the goals stay on the field. Rayados advance to the Leagues Cup Grand Final to face Toluca, while Almada’s América will have to settle for playing the less-than-glamorous third-place match against León. And they’ll surely be praying that Mr. Miranda doesn’t show up in the VAR booth.
